Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,089,920 discloses and claims a novel tape drive assembly that uses DAT (Digital Audio Tape) format cassettes and a high density DAT drive assembly, in which a plurality of cassettes are stored in a cassette tray located in a magazine holding area below the drive assembly, and a transport mechanism loads and unloads a selected cassette between the tray and the tape drive. In the known drive assembly, a front bezel is provided with two openings--an upper door through which single cassettes many be individually loaded and unloaded into the tape drive, and a lower door through which a ordered sequence of cassettes stored in a cassette tray may be loaded and unloaded into the magazine holding area below the tape drive. Although not shown in detail, the patent contemplates that when a cartridge is loaded and operating, the openings are blocked by a respective inwardly swinging hinged doors that are provided with a suitable electro-mechanical interlock mechanism.
However, in order to prevent such inwardly swinging doors from jamming during the unloading cycle, a relatively complex door operating mechanism is required that adds undesirable cost and complexity to the drive assembly.
Moreover, the required operating and/or interlock mechanism requires a mechanical and/or electrical connection between the bezel and the drive assembly that is prone to damage or misalignment during routine serving of the drive and transport mechanism behind the bezel.